After a weekend in which backbench rebels took to the airwaves to call on him to resign, Tony Blair will today complete his post-election reshuffle with changes to the junior ministerial ranks.

Former Cabinet ministers Robin Cook and Frank Dobson were among many who urged the prime minister to step down sooner rather than later following the reduction in Labour's majority.

Cook, the former foreign secretary, said the task ahead was to see off the Liberal Democrat challenge, not to crush the Conservatives.

A YouGov survey for the Telegraph shows that 46 per cent of voters want Blair to resign by this time next year - and a further 26 per cent want him to go within two or three years.

But among Labour voters Blair's position is much stronger, with only 17 per cent wanting him to quit in less than a year and 46 per cent saying he should carry on for two or three years.

The Times claims the prime minister is preparing for a showdown with his rebel MPs at their weekly meeting on Wednesday, with Gordon Brown likely to be called in for support.

Blair's allies sought to remind the Labour dissidents yesterday that Labour had been elected on the party manifesto and still enjoyed a secure majority.

David Blunkett led the counter-attack, branding critics as "self indulgent".

The new work and pensions secretary said those saying the prime minister should go after his majority was slashed were trying to "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory".

Meanwhile Alastair Campbell, the government's former director of communications, said: "People really underestimate Tony as a politician and as a political figure.

"The idea that he sits there in some sort of lonely den thinking 'where are my friends' - he has been dominant in British politics for a decade."

Today's papers also focus on the the role of Andrew Adonis, a Number 10 education policy adviser, who the prime minister reportedly wants to be given a post as schools minister with a seat in the Lords.

John Denham, the former Home Office minister who resigned over Iraq, will be asked to return to government, and Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, is also likely to be given additional responsibility as minister for women.

And Ed Balls, the chancellor's former chief economic adviser, is likely to be given a junior Treasury post - a few days after his election as an MP.